Stabiliser compositions are used in frozen confectionery products to improve and/or maintain certain characteristics of the products. These characteristics can be the texture, scoopability, melting rate, heat shock resistance and shelf life of the frozen confectionary products.
Efficient stabiliser compositions well known and widely used in any range of frozen confectionary products include ingredients, in particular emulsifiers, defined as “additives” or ingredients with so-called “E-numbers”.
Examples of such additives often found in frozen confectionery formulations include mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids, esters of mono- and digylcerides of fatty acids, polyglycerol esters of fatty acids, polysorbates etc. They have certain drawbacks. These emulsifiers are in fact perceived as “non-natural” ingredients, deemed to be unhealthy in the eyes of the consumer. The presence of these ingredients in frozen confection recipes leads to reduced authenticity of the frozen confectionary products. There is therefore a need to provide frozen confectionary products that are made from natural ingredients.
Natural emulsifiers are known but they are often costly and complex materials that are difficult to obtain and manufacture. They are not as efficient as any known additives to stabilize frozen confections and their use is therefore limited.
So-called “Premium” ice creams made with natural ingredients in particular natural emulsifiers such as egg yolk are known. Such “premium” range of frozen confectioneries is usually characterised by products with a rather low overrun e.g. below 50%, high levels of fat and high levels of protein. Their total solid content is also usually above 40 wt %. The low overrun in these products provides them with a low thermal conductivity and therefore these products are less affected by heat shock. On the other hand, the high protein content usually compensates for the need of any “non natural” emulsifier. However the proteins being expensive, this solution is not suitable for standard or “mainstream” frozen confectionary products.
Mainstream frozen confectionary products are usually characterised by an overrun above 80% and their content in protein is lower than that of “premium” frozen confectioneries, to make such products affordable to most consumers.
Providing mainstream frozen confectionary products using natural ingredients is a challenge. Premium ice creams are usually made with fat from a dairy source and contain little or no fat from a vegetable source. These frozen confectionary products are expensive to manufacture and thus costly to the consumer due to the high load of quality ingredients. These products can also be seen as unhealthy due to the high levels of fat and sugars.
There is a need to provide mainstream frozen confectionary products that are healthier, smoother, stable, scoopable with relatively lower total solids, which are made with natural ingredients and which are cheaper to manufacture.
There is an inherent need to provide mainstream frozen confectionary products and stabiliser compositions that address the aforementioned problems.
WO 98/09536 by the Applicant Unilever PLC is titled “Frozen aerated product ice cream free of emulsifier and preparation thereof”. The WO 98/09536 publication discloses frozen aerated products with: i) 1-6% fat, ii) 0% emulsifier and iii) 0-1.0% stabilizer such as natural gums. The WO 98/09556 publication fails to disclose any overrun values.
WO 98/09534 by the Applicant Unilever PLC is titled “Frozen aerated product ice cream free of emulsifier and preparation thereof”. WO 98/09354 publication discloses frozen aerated products with: i) 6-18% fat, ii) 0% emulsifier and iii) 0-1.0% stabilizer such as natural gums. WO 98/09534 publication fails to disclose any overrun values.
EP 1400176 by the Applicant Unilever PLC is titled “Frozen aerated products”. EP 1400176 publication discloses frozen aerated products with a large overrun range of between 10%-250%. The frozen aerated products of EP 1400176 publication do not require any stabilisers or emulsifiers.
US 2006/0233919 by the Applicant Unilever is titled “Methods for production of frozen aerated confections”. The US 2006/0233919 publication discloses a method for aerating ice cream that contains polyunsaturated fats. US 2006/0233919 publication fails to disclose a frozen confectionary product with an overrun and a stabiliser composition according to the present invention.
EP 2025240 by the Applicant Nestec SA is titled “Natural stabiliser system for a desert”. EP 2025240 publication discloses a stabiliser system that can be used in the manufacture of natural frozen confectionary products. The stabiliser system of EP 2025240 comprises native rice starch and fibres from vegetables, fruits or mixtures thereof. Starch is a carbohydrate and the use of starch is a non traditional component of frozen confectionary products. EP 2025240 publication discloses frozen confectionary products which are aerated with an overrun of 20-80%. EP 2025240 publication fails to disclose a natural gum or at least mixtures of different natural gums in the stabiliser system.
There is thus a need to overcome the deficiencies as known in the prior art.